Elon Musk suggests charging commercial or government Twitter users

(Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

published 4 May 2022

Twitter's incoming new owner says the platform will remain free for "casual users" — but for some others, it could be a different story.

Elon Musk, who is in the process of purchasing Twitter, on Tuesday night suggested some commercial or government accounts could be charged to use the service in the future.

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Musk entered into an agreement to purchase Twitter late last month, though he doesn't yet officially own the company. When he made his offer, the Tesla CEO said Twitter "will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form," and it "needs to be transformed as a private company." But The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk has told investors he could take Twitter public again "in as little as three years of buying it."

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.

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